Editor’s note: This is the 10th installment in Finance & Commerce’s Top Projects of 2013 series. Read about other Top Projects here.

Minneapolis’ North Loop neighborhood is quickly becoming a desirable location for the city’s creative and professional types, thanks to the old but viable buildings there. The area turned out to be a perfect fit for LHB Inc., the Duluth-based engineering and architecture firm.

The firm wanted a vibrant environment for its 50 Minneapolis workers, but it also wanted a space that could serve as a design showcase for its Twin Cities commercial clients. LHB finally settled on the historic Loose-Wiles building.

“It took a lot of shopping around to find the space – years,” said project architect Bruce Cornwall of LHB. “We wanted to find the right place at the right rate, and to have it be a space that we could design to meet our growth needs.”

The Loose-Wiles building spent most of its 108-year history as the Sunshine Biscuit Co., the maker of Hydrox cookies and Cheez-It crackers. The original occupants conceived the space as a vibrant work environment with lots of natural light, a quality LHB was glad to keep.

Fortunately, the building’s concrete and primary structure were in good shape, and the exterior masonry offered nice detailing. While some tweaking was needed to bring the office up to the standard of a multitenant space, the building “has good bones,” according to Cornwall.

“One of the special things about the building is that even though it has a concrete frame, they have wood floors over the concrete,” he added. “So we get the benefits of the wood-warehouse kind of feel without any of the sound transfer that you’d get from a concrete floor.”

For the interior layout, LHB wanted the majority of the work spaces — including design areas and server rooms — to be visible and open. It also wanted an almost random order of placement when it came to cubicles and conference rooms, to suggest an anything-goes vibe to the company’s workflow.

“When you walk in the front door, the lobby is very open,” said Cornwall. “Anyone who comes in can see people working in the office. People are interested in the design process. We wanted to show people how the sausage is made.”

See below for a slide show of the LHB Minneapolis Office by staff photographer Bill Klotz: